questions about chessbase?

I will have more time for chess study in the near future and have started checking out chessbase18.  watched a few videos that seem to have mixed reviews. Some say it's fantastic and all the top players use it, while others its hard to use and not much better than what you get with chess.com premium membership which I have already. I like to hear what people who have it think about it. questions I have are how do you like the game analysis? How do you use it to improve your game? what features do you like about it? Also I like to know what your running chessbase on spec wise and how well dose it run for you? my current laptop dose not meet min requirements so a new laptop will also be in order.  I'm not opposed to the price if I know it's worth it and will help in the long run, but also don't want to spend 800 dollars to find out it's going to bring little or no improvement to my training. thanks.

Chessbase is quite a useful tool, but it’s not magic. There are many tools these days where you can organize and analyze your games. Chessbase is one of the more fully featured databases. If you want to see how it works, let me know and I can show you to form your own opinion.

Chessbase has online features but it is primarily an *offline* program. Meaning: you can use it without an internet connection. So you can always have full and complete access to your work and files.

Online services like chess.com, lichess (studies) and etc, are completely useless if you don't have internet. Of course you can get by without chessbase, but a lot of things are much easier with a local offline program, like ability to easily switch between windows, see at an instant glance everything you have, and so on. But chessbase is also the buggiest program in existence.

great thanks to all. I have watched a few more video's and do think this will help me. I had a chess coach and he was a big help. I have had remote chess coaches as well. trying to decide if getting another coach or chessbase would be the most help at this time. orby314 I see your associated with 0ne or more of the cleveland chess clubs. I live in akron, but play up in cleveland alot. If you get time I would like to check it out.

How does chessbase as software compare to the likes of something free like en croissant.

I do realise the main reason one buys chessbase is for their database of games.

But with en croissant and others like it, there's free databases like Caissa.

Just want to know what does chessbase really do that other products do not do.

Are their databases just that much better? Or is there a killer function there I just don't get?

Thank you

Who is the neanderthal downvoting you for asking a simple honest question? You would think this is 'crowd-pleasing' reddit or something...

Anyway what I said earlier still stands. If you want access to multiple offline openings and repertoire files easily accessible all at once, it's basically indispensible. The drawbacks are the # of bugs present, due to feature bloat and spaghetti code.

I'm curious though, folks, is there a chessbase forum? I'm looking to see if Fritz 20 or chessbase has some kind of online group I could join to get a feel of what users think about either product and related databases and courses.

I don't know if it's discussed here. As far as I know there's not an official chessbase site forum.

Thanks

I am a class level player since 1986 and have purchased Chessbase and its new iterations since 2000. I can offer an opinion based upon a lot of experience and knowledge concerning chessbase features and functionality. The truth is Chessbase will not significantly improve your chess rating. BUT I have had a lot of enjoyment using it because no other software offers all the cool things you can do with it. However the price of an appropriate laptop and cost of chessbase is high, it can be buggy and it has a learning curve. Basically for most class level players you will not see a rating improvement if that is the reason you purchase chessbase.

I'm an avid user of the ChessBase products, and I have contributed to their developement with translations, test, suggestions, etc.

I'd second what it is mentioned here, fully, with a piece of additional opinion from my side. ChessBase and the Fritz GUIs do have a quite large and comprehensive set of features. To have all of them at your disposal, you would need to use several different pieces of SW and Apps, so a plus of the set of those 2 Apps, is that 98% of anything you'd ever need, is in there.

That said, to come to the point, is that 99% of the non-Pro chess players, use the set of those 2 programs to their 10 - 20% potential. It is similar to what people do with MS Excel. They don't even know of all the things that are under the hood. The typical player use ChessBase as a local database program, and the Fritz GUI to sometimes play games and/or let an engine run alone over a game that was played, enjoying the depth of analysis.

ChessBase regularly publish a list of "tips" and explanations of what is available in their programs. This is the one for ChessBase 18: https://support.chessbase.com/en/tutorials/list/18

As for the OP's question: if you had to use ChessBase' and Fritz's GUIs to almost their full potential than YES, it is going to help you with your rating very much. If you will end up using the 2 Apps like 90% of the chess players, then NO, it won't help you. You better save your money and use the plethora of different Apps that exist, free of charge.

It all depends on you. As usual.

HTH

Thanks so much for that useful info.

Where do people go to talk about chessbase products? I'm still wondering where they all hang out.

I've a few questions on how best to use the analysis feature on Fritz and I'm not completely sure where do go ask for the best advice.

I'm cautious about asking too many application specific questions here for example because I'm new and I don't know if that's custom.

Hi, I'm not aware of any official forum devoted to CB products neither maintained by CB nor by enthusiasts. I know they have their own web site where people can comment under their blog articles. There's also a support form to send requests directly to them. As far as learning how to use their products, I know of the following resources:
- Dedicated "tutorials" on their web site
- PDF manuals as well as online of CB and Fritz GUI

As far places where to specifically discuss ChessBase related matters, I was not aware of any place of that kind, until you asked for. I then looked into the list of "Clubs" here on chess.com, and found that some actually exist: https://www.chess.com/clubs/search?pattern=chessbase&sort=1 I indeed just joined the ChessBase official one, which I didn't know even existed.

If you aren't satisfied with the above Clubs, I wouldn't find it wrong to open a thread here and post your questions. People like me, and even more knowledgeable than me, will certainly give a hand.

HTH

puttpurtle you can alot of information on chessbase on youtube and the chessbase website. like others have said already it's a tool, and only so good as the person using it like any other tool. knowing what it was designed for and how to wring out max performance is up to the end user. why I was interested in it was my coach and training. I'm to the point where I have learned to correctly evaluate a position, how to analyze my own games correctly, good understanding tactical motifs, and my calculation and board vison are improving. the next step is to put all this together on the board. I believe chessbase will allow me a one stop place to analyze, store, catalog my games. I can better see reoccurring mistakes and know where to focus my study time. It also save me time by having a powerful engine, master games and my notes all in one place . But I do believe that if you lack the ability to correctly evaluate positions yourself along with annotate your own games (put in the work) then chessbase will probably not be much help. after a lot of questions and research I ended up getting chessbase, fritz 20, and the mega database. I now have the learn the ins and out of it. Again thanks for all in advice and input. you all have have helped me out alot. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.

Thanks, I just looked into that official looking chessbase club. Not sure if much happens there, there's no forum as far as I can tell.

I just got Fritz and I think they need to get someone to redo the UI.

The eval bar puzzled me for a good while, had no idea why it was turning yellow and I had no clue where to look to find out, for example.

Small things like that. Many small things like that.

I've no doubt it's got more bells and whistles than I'll ever use but I wish there was clearer documentation.

If anyone else here has any great beginner resources on the UI etc, appreciate your feedback as well!